


Closet Confessions

by LadyReisling



Category: The Baby-Sitters Club (TV 2020)
Genre: Babysitting Mishaps, Fluff, Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28144587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyReisling/pseuds/LadyReisling
Summary: Two sitters, eight kids, a rainy day, and a game of Sardines. What could possibly go wrong?
Relationships: Claudia Kishi & Kristy Thomas
Comments: 5
Kudos: 33
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [soupytwist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soupytwist/gifts).



The gym of Stoneybook Middle School was dark, a rented disco ball throwing prisms of light on the floor as a slow song played. Claudia, dressed in a silver-embroidered red silk kimono, her hair swept up with a clip she had made herself, was in heaven. Trevor, whose jacket and tie managed to be both artsy and sophisticated, was holding her closer than the chaperones might probably allow, but somehow, none of them noticed. He twirled her closer, but when she came to face him again, it wasn’t Trevor anymore. Instead, she found herself face to face with Kristy, dressed in that stunning blue dress she’d worn at her mother’s wedding, flowers in her hair and smiling in a way that made Claudia question everything she’d ever thought about the other girl. 

The slow music faded, replaced with a low, persistent buzzing.  _ Weird.  _ It stopped, and Claudia lost herself to the dance again, but suddenly they weren’t at the dance. Instead, Kristy was sitting in her desk chair in regular clothes, looking pointedly at her. 

“Answer the phone, Claud.”

The buzzing came again, along with an insistent vibration that echoed through her head. 

_ Oh. It was a dream.  _ Claudia dragged her eyes open. The room was just starting to get light, and rain pounded on the roof as thunder rumbled outside. Her cell phone vibrated on the pillow next to her. She must have fallen asleep texting Trevor last night. Well, that explained the dream. Or parts of it, anyway. But who would be calling at this hour of the morning? 

The vibration came again, Kristy’s name flashing on the screen. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Claudia swiped up to read the text. 

_ Can you come sit at the Pikes’ with me today?  _

Her fingers were still asleep, but after a few tries, Claudia managed to text back:

_ I thought Mary Anne was going to sit with you at the Pikes’ today.  _ Mra. Pike had called for sitters today weeks ago. It was an all-day job sitting for all eight Pike kids while the adult Pikes attended Mr. Pike’s class reunion in Westport. Claudia would have forgotten the details if she hadn’t read about the job on the club’s Google calendar earlier in the week. Her phone vibrated with another text from Kristy. 

_ Mary Anne’s dad won’t let her. She has homework.  _

Claudia thought for a second. On the one hand, she’d planned to spend today painting and baking cookies with Mimi. But the Pikes paid well and the club needed the business. Kristy couldn’t take the job on her own. Plus, the money would put her closer to that new brush set she’d been eyeing in the art supply store. A little more awake now, she responded:  _ Let me check with my parents, but as long as they say it’s okay, then yeah.  _

Kristy’s reply was swift:  _ Great. Charlie’s driving me. We’ll pick you up at 8:00 so you don’t have to walk in the rain.  _

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

By one in the afternoon, Claudia was seriously regretting her life choices. The rain had not let up, and even though the Pike house was relatively big, it seemed to shrink quickly with eight kids plus two sitters trapped inside for hours on end. The triplets had tried to start a food fight over lunch and earlier, five-year-old Claire had run screaming from room to room wearing Nicky’s underpants on her head until the combined efforts of Claudia, Kristy, and Mallory had stopped her. For now, things seemed quiet, but the kids had gone through both Kid-Kits and played every board game in the Pike family arsenal, and boredom was quickly setting in. Claudia herself in need of a distraction, too. For some reason, today, she couldn’t keep her thoughts off of Kristy and how somehow she was messily beautiful 

Vanessa pressed her nose against the living room window. “The rain, the rain, makes me insane,” she said with a sigh. 

“Shut up, puke-breath,” Nicky retorted.

“HEY!”

Before they knew it, a shouting match had erupted between Nicky and Vanessa. The triplets who had been reading comic books on the floor joined in, and Claire and Margo were looking mutinous. They needed a distraction, and fast. 

Claudia saw an idea flash in Kristy’s eyes, then the other girl stuck her fingers in her mouth and emitted a piercing whistle. A deafening silence fell. 

“Come on, everybody. We’re going to play a game,” Kristy said. 

“All of us?” one of the triplets wanted to know.

“But we’ve already  _ played  _ every game,” Margo whined. 

“Yes, all of us, and we haven’t played this game,” Kristy said in a tone that brooked no argument. “We’re going to play Sardines.”

Claudia had to marvel at Kristy’s genius. The Pike brood was ideal for a game of Sardines, and it had been so long since those elementary school birthday parties where she’d learned to play, she’d almost forgotten the game.

“What’s Sardines?” Mallory asked, looking intrigued.

“Claudia and I are going to find a place to hide while the rest of you count to one hundred. When you finish, come looking for us. When you find us, you have to hide with us. The last person to find us is the first to hide for the next round. Make sense?”

A round of nods.

“Good. Now all of you, close your eyes and count to one hundred.” Once all the kids had their faces hidden, Kristy grabbed Claudia’s hand and pulled her into the hallway in search of the perfect hiding place.

“You. Are. A. Genius.”

“I know. Where should we hide? Closet?” Kristy bit her lip, thinking. 

“How about the cupboard under the basement stairs? It will take them awhile to get to the basement--even longer distraction,” Claudia suggested.

“Good thinking. Come on, and make sure you close the door behind you,” Kristy said, leading the way to the basement stairs.

They left the lights off in the basement to cover their tracks. Opening the door to the small storage cabinet under the stairs, Kristy pulled the string on the bare bulb in the ceiling and wrinkled her nose. “Ew, cobwebs.” 

“Do you want to find somewhere else to hide?”

“Nah...this is good, and we’re running out of time.” They ducked in among the dusty canning jars and out-of-season sports equipment, then Claudia pulled the door shut behind them. It closed with an audible, definite click. Kristy tugged on the string again to douse the light and the small space plunged into darkness. The two of them scrabbled into the furthest corner, shrinking even further into the shadows. Claudia felt cobwebs in her hair and tried not to shudder. Goosebumps rose on her arms. In the enclosed space on the hard cement floor, they sat face to face, knees almost touching in the narrow cupboard space. It was going to take a lot to get eight kids in here with them, Claudia thought.

Time passed. The moments seemed to draw out longer. They heard a group of footsteps--probably the triplets--on the stairs above them, and movement outside. The movement paused outside the door of the storage cupboard, and they tried not to giggle. Then the footsteps doubled back. The doorknob jiggled. “Not in there, it’s locked,” said Adam’s voice, and the footsteps faded away

“Uh...Kristy? The door doesn’t lock from this side, does it?”

“Of course not…” she got up and put her hand on the knob. It refused to turn.

“Ummm...Claud...it’s. It’s locked.”

“It can’t be locked.” Joining Kristy at the door, Claudia tried pressing the lock button on the doorknob, but it didn’t move.

“You’re right. It can’t be locked. It must just be stuck. I bet they don’t use it much. If we push really hard together, we’ll get out.”

Together, they put their hands on the knob. Claudia counted down from three, and they both threw their whole weight against the stubborn door. It didn’t budge. 

They were well and truly locked in. 

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

“What should we do?” Kristy asked. They had turned the light on again, and it cast a weird yellow glow over the enclosed space, highlighting the look of consternation on her face.

“Can you text Mallory and let her know we’re stuck?” Claudia suggested. Since Mallory was going to join the club at their next meeting, they’d all taken her phone number the week before. 

“I can’t. I left my phone in my bag upstairs. Do you have yours?”

Claudia fished her phone out of her pocket and tapped the screen to life. She pulled up Mallory’s number typed in a quick SOS text, but moments later, her phone pinged. Message failed to send. “No signal.”

“We could try calling for help.”

“From the sounds of things, they’re still looking for us upstairs. We’ll just have to wait until someone comes back.”

“If this were a Nancy Drew novel, Nancy would pick the lock with her hairpin or something, but there’s no hole to even stick a pin into. Do you think your barrette would work?”

“Not pointy enough,” Claudia said, fingering the hairpiece.

Kristy sank to the floor, leaning against the wall and pulling her knees to her chest. “We’re stuck.”

“At least the kids are still looking for us and not getting into trouble.”

“Yeah, but for how long?”

Before Claudia could answer, there were more footsteps on the stairs above them. This time, when the footsteps passed in front of the door, they made as much noise as possible. Kristy stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled again.

“Kristy? Claudia?” Mallory’s voice.

“Mal? Thank goodness. We’re stuck. Can you open the door?”

“I can try.” The knob jiggled again, but nothing happened. “It’s locked.”

“Is there a key?”

“Not that I know of.”

Kristy looked like she might cry. “Mal, we’re stuck in here. Are you okay out there with your brothers and sisters?”

“Yeah, we’re fine. My parents just texted. They’ll be home in a couple hours. I can keep my brothers and sisters out of trouble until they get here.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Well,” Claudia said as Mallory’s footsteps faded up the stairs again, “Nothing to do now but wait.”

Kristy sank to the floor, leaned against the wall and pulled her knees up. “So much for building business for the club. Now Mr. and Mrs. Pike will tell everyone how irresponsible we are.” She swiped the back of her hand across her eyes. 

Impulsively, Claudia sat down next to her and put an arm around her shoulder. “I wouldn’t worry about that. After all, they trusted us enough to bring Mary Anne and Stacey on vacation with them. This is just one mistake. It will be fine.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Silence fell between them. It occurred to Claudia that she’d never spent much time alone with Kristy. As long as she could remember, it had been Kristy and Mary Anne being best friends and letting Claudia tag along with them. She’d sometimes thought, too, that her parents might rather have Kristy, with all her ambition and great ideas, as a daughter. 

Kristy’s question interrupted her thoughts. “Have you seen the new Cam Geary movie yet?” 

“No. My parents wouldn’t let me go last weekend because I got a C on a math quiz. Janine keeps talking about “positive reinforcement” and they’ve completely bought into it.”

“It must be hard.”

“Sometimes it is. I know they love me, but I wish they were proud of me the way they are Janine. The only one who really gets me is Mimi, and since she had her stroke…”

Kristy looked thoughtful. “I think they are proud of you. They just don’t really know how to show it. And someday you’ll be a rich and famous artist. Just like Andew Wyeth.”

“I wish, but I don’t know. I’m not smart like Janine. School is just hard for me. I can’t explain it. Like, when I pick up a paintbrush or a piece of clay, I don’t even have to tell my hands what to do. They just do it. But when I look at a textbook, nothing makes sense. And art is great, but artists don’t make money. Janine gave me this whole lecture about incomes the other week. And my parents just sat there nodding along with her. It was awful.”

“Janine isn’t the only smart one, you know. Smart looks different on different people. Look what you did to Mary Anne’s room.”

“That was nothing, though. We just...looked at the room, and thought about the things that make us think of Mary Anne.”

“That nothing is called interior design. And my mom says people pay sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars for people to do it to their houses. You could do that. And that barrette--even though it couldn’t get us out of here--it’s great. You made that yourself. Have you thought about making stuff to sell on Etsy?”

Claudia couldn’t help it. A black cloud she hadn’t realized had settled over her heart began to lift. “Sometimes. But all I can do is make the things. I wouldn’t know what to charge for them or how to do the website or…”

“If you want, I can help you with that. We all will.” 

“If you want, I can help you make your room at Watson’s look more like you live there.”

Kristy’s eyes lit up. “Yes! And we can take pictures for your future portfolio and get you into RISD early, and show the world you’re smarter than Mean Janine.”

By the time Mr. and Mrs. Pike returned, Kristy and Claudia were giggling in the closet. They’d talked and dreamed up plans for a new Etsy shop, tentatively called Creations by Claudia. Kristy was still on about interior design and RISD, but Claudia was content to let Kristy scheme. Mr. Pike paid them, including a healthy bonus, and drove them home. Alone in her room, Claudia picked up a brush to keep working on the painting for the student art show, but just as quickly, she put the brush down and grabbed a sketch pad, sketching out a design for a necklace of tiny pieces of fruit made of polymer clay and painted in bright colors. She envisioned matching earrings and a bracelet. Then, content, she lay down on her bed and switched off the light, listening to the rain fall outside the window.

Just before she fell asleep, she grabbed her phone off the nightstand to fire off a quick text to Kristy: _That’s one babysitting experience I’ll never forget._

Kristy’s response came within a minute. _Me neither._


End file.
